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Monday, May 17, 2010

You've got to love moving companies - not quite the customer service I'm use to from my days at the Four Seasons! After a great final week in Atlanta, we were finally ready for the big move. We knew the movers would be at our house on Thursday by 8am so Jared and I had a great last dinner date night in Decatur on Wednesday, handled some packing details and set our alarms for early on Thursday morning. Since the movers were coming so early on Thursday, we thought we could get an early start on the road and try to get some miles behind us on Thursday afternoon once they finished up.

The alarm went off at 6:00am on Thursday, we finished the final details and were waiting anxiously by the windows for the moving truck to pull up. My mom flew in Thursday to help her pregnant daughter drive 16 hours across the country. When I left to pick her up from her 10am flight, we still didn't have a moving truck so Jared made a call. "Oh, we're just around the corner and should be there by 11am." Great! Just a few hours behind but we can still finish up early and get on the road.

To make a very frustrating story short, the truck finally pulls up at 4pm with Eli, the head mover, announcing that our initially quoted price would be double due to "all of your stuff". Really? Our quote included the square footage of our house, detailed information about what was being sent and how much "stuff" we had. Really? Double the price? Really??? Fine. Whatever. Just get our "stuff" on the truck and let's go. Eli promised they'd be done by 8pm - NO PROBLEM.

Well, as we were finally watching the very last of our "stuff" pack onto the truck at midnight, you can imagine the exhaustion and pure frustration all three of us were feeling. Ughhh!!! And to top it all off, we were asked our preferred delivery date which had already been confirmed. We reconfirmed for Thursday, May 27 and were told that this was our "first day of available delivery" and were promised that our "stuff" would arrive within 21 working days of this available date. Really??? That's the end of June! REALLY!?!?!? I couldn't help but think as we watched the truck pull away that it was the last time I would ever see my earthly possessions....goodbye bed, goodbye lamp, goodbye dining room table. Oh, I'm sure we can make due with some folding chairs and an air mattress in our new home! I'll keep y'all updated as we receive updates on "our stuff"....as of now, no news.

We love our friends, Kris and Lindsey, for being the type of friends we can call at midnight for a place to crash. And if anyone ever needs a place to crash, the Arvisos have the most comfortable guest beds I have ever laid on! Make your reservations now for Hotel Arviso! After a few hours of shut eye, we hit the road at 7am on Friday for the trek - Mom and me in one car with Rooney and Jared in the other with Kitty.

Funny side note for those of you that know Rooney, aka The Toons. Rooney can be a bit, um, special at times. Our vet had given us dog Xanex to knock him out and help his nerves on the road.
Instructions: Give him half a pill every 4-8 hours. Half a pill should make him pretty groggy but he'll still be able to function. He might just be a bit wobbly on his feet when he gets out for bathroom breaks.
After 1/2 pill and one 1/2 hours, the Toons was still bouncing off the wall so I popped in another 1/2 pill. I thought it finally started kicking in. His eyes were glassy and he was sitting up in the back seat but definitely doing the high school math class head bob.
We stopped about 1 hour after half pill #2, opened the door and Rooney bolted out the door, sprinting towards the highway! It was like the kid just lapped up 5 Red Bulls! And I'm sure I'm creating a pretty picture of a 7 month pregnant lady chasing down and tackling a small dog before he bolted across the highway. Clearly, our dog is immune to dog Xanex. We tried a full pill on day 2 and no luck. I wonder if an elephant tranquilizer would do the trick???

After a stop in Lafayette, LA for a crawfish broil with Jared's clients, we made it to Beaumont to spend the night, continued on our way on Saturday morning, drove through torrential storms in Houston and finally made it to San Antonio around 11am on Saturday.

Brent came in for the night so we got to spend some QT with him and are so excited to be close to Austin so we can visit Brent and Rooney and Kitty's cousin Disco on a regular basis. We're at Mom and Steve's for about 2 weeks and the SA house is well under way with hardwood floors going in this week and painting this week and next. Now, we're just praying we see our stuff pull up sometime in the next two weeks. If not, a folding chair makes a lovely living room piece!

On the baby front, we had the first appointment with my new OB, Dr. Cox, this morning. We love Dr. Cox! He put Jared and me immediately at ease and made it feel like switching doctors at 28 weeks of pregnancy was perfectly normal. We have our appointment set up with the perinatologists for next Friday, May 28 and we'll meet with the pediatric surgeons just after that. Hopefully we'll have our scheduled due date by next Friday so I'll keep you updated there as well.

Thank you for your prayers over the last week! It has definitely been a test on our nerves and sanity but we're excited about the next few weeks and what San Antonio has in store. This week we'll make the title of Texans official again at the DMV....oh, I just can't wait for the customer service that awaits us :)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

This weekend and week has been filled with time with friends and family as we get ready to leave Atlanta. We closed on the Atlanta house on Friday and closed on the San Antonio house on Monday - we love SOLD signs!

On Saturday, I was so honored to have my friends here in Atlanta come together to celebrate the little nugget. I realized what an amazing group of women I've been able to develop friendships with over the last 6 years. Thank you to everyone who came. You are all special to me and I will miss you dearly.

My fabulous party was hosted at the Lewis's house by Lindsey, Carey, Blair, Katie, Jenifer and Lindsey. I love you girls!

Clearly, these girls know me too well! As Lindsey A. said when we were wrapping up, "I think the key to a good baby shower is meat and booze!" I love how that quote came from my pregnant friend :)

Thank you for all of the gifts to get us ready for the arrival of our baby girl - cute clothes, a jumparoo, a boppie, a bumpo, a carrier travel seat, a bouncer, a baby swing, a hand stitched wall hanging, a bath center, a handmade baby quilt, blankets, towels and more! This child is going to be set!

The movers come bright and early tomorrow morning. Thank you again to our incredible friends here in Atlanta. We love you all and can't wait to have visitors in San Antonio!

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

We had our last visit yesterday with our perinatologist in Atlanta before moving to San Antonio. We've loved working with Dr. Mann and wish we could take her to Texas with us! She's been straight-forward, thorough and positive with every visit and we've felt like we've been in the best hands possible.

Our little nugget's heart is still looking strong so that's always good news. On all other accounts, she is looking healthy but we were sad to hear that her liver is now completely outside of her body, in the omphalocele. There seems to be some fluid developing around her liver but that's normal with what she has. She's still measuring small, about 1 lb 4 oz when a baby at her development should be at about 2 lbs. This is due to the fact that her body is continuing to grow but doesn't know to grow large enough since some of the pieces are outside of her body, instead of on the inside like they're suppose to be.

We really won't know about surgery until we've met with the pediatric surgeons but, based on her body size and omphalocele size, we're planning on needing to wait for surgery. My outlook has always been plan for the worst, hope for the best. We're planning on spending extended time in the hospital (could be up to 6 months) after delivery but probably won't even know until she's here and the doctors can assess the omphalocele in person.

Our next appointment will be with our new doctors in San Antonio on May 17. We've heard great things about our new OB, Dr. Cox, and he's assured us that we'll be working with some of the best perinatologists in Texas. We'll meet with the pediatric surgeons and pediatricians as well so I'm sure we'll have lots of medical updates to share after May 17. More to come...

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Jared and I started the baby discussions about a year ago. We'd decided that I would run the Toronto Waterfront Marathon on September 27 and figured we'd see how things went after that. Well, I guess I'm Fertile Myrtle because we were pregnant by November. We were so excited to have everything confirmed and see our baby's first photo (or as I took to calling it, Cletus the Fetus):

We went in for our 12 week check up and the doctors noticed something a little off on the sonogram so decided to send us to Atlanta Perinatal Consultants. We went in for our visit with Dr. Mann and that's where we learned that our little nugget had an omphalocele. You can see the little bump on the abdomen from the 12 week photo.

January - early March were both scary and trying. We learned that an omphalocele can be an indicator of a number of chromosomal defects including some of the trisomies, Turner Syndrome and Beckwith-Weideman so we were scheduled for an amniocentesis. I had heard horror stories about amnios but mine ended up relatively uneventful and with only some minimal cramping. After what seemed like an eternity, we finally got the results back that our baby was healthy on all other accounts!

Now for those of you that know Jared and I, we're just a little bit competitive. Well, of course, why wouldn't we turn this pregnancy into some type of competition??? I was convinced this baby was a boy. I just knew it! And Jared, well he was sure he was breaking the Meabon family tradition and a long line of male heirs by having a girl. Low and behold, our little internal bet solved itself with the amnio result. I swallowed my pride and admitted defeat. But what a great bet to lose - A LITTLE GIRL!

We have had appointments with our perinatologist every 3 weeks and have gotten to see our little girl growing and developing. She had an echo cardiogram on her last appointment and, other than a little leakage in her pulmonary artery, her heart is healthy and strong. Omphalocele babies have a high risk of cardio problems so this was a huge victory. As of now, we know that her omphalocele contains her intestines and the right lobe of her liver. She's measuring a little small so we aren't sure if surgery will be immediate or if we'll need to wait for surgery. She will be delivered by c-section and more details on the date to come. We have been in amazing hands with our doctors and trust we are in the best hands as we transfer to our new doctors in San Antonio.

We are anxious and nervous but we know that God is developing her to be perfect for us. She has already taught us so much about patience and trust and we can't wait to meet her in person.

The next few months will be followed with lots of appointments, updates on dates and even more patience so I'll use this blog as a way to keep everyone updated on all that is Baby Meabon. We have narrowed down the names but will keep her name a surprise until she gets here. We have our last appointment with Dr. Mann in Atlanta tomorrow for a routine sonogram and check.

The countdown is on! Only two weeks left in Atlanta and the move is exciting but bittersweet. We are moving to San Antonio after living in our beloved Atlanta - Brooke for almost 6 years and Jared (with an 11 month hiatus in Dallas) for almost 9 years.

Jared is taking over the Texas territory for hotel development. Texas has a ton of potential so professionally, this is a great new region for him to handle. After 7 years with Four Seasons Hotels, I'll be taking a break from work to get us settled in the new house and then get ready for the arrival of our baby girl in August. If a contract position popped up between now and then, I'd definitely take the opportunity. I've been asked if I'll return back to work and my answer for now is, we'll see. I love working and the satisfaction I get from my job but I know motherhood is going to be the biggest job I've held so far. Given the unknown for our sweet baby, I want to make sure she is steady and stable before making any decisions. So, as I said, we'll see.

We will miss Atlanta dearly. We've grown to call this city home and have made some of the best friends we could ask for. I don't think I've let myself fully grasp that we're leaving yet but even as I write this, I have tears running down my cheeks. So much has happened while we've been here....our engagement and then marriage, our first home, our careers, our friendships....so many memories!

But at the same time, we are excited about the next chapter. We are looking forward to our new lives in San Antonio. While I went to high school there, its been 12 years since I've called the city home and look forward to rediscovering the city all over again. We have family and friends to welcome us there and are excited to be closer to the Boswells and Swallows. San Antonio will welcome the birth of our baby and will be a whole new chapter in our lives.

We close on our Decatur house this Friday. My last day of work is also on Friday. Jared will fly to San Antonio on Monday, May 10 to close on our new house there. Our movers come on May 13 and we'll drive out May 14 with an overnight stop in Lafayette. We'll finally arrive in San Antonio on Saturday, May 15 and will move into the new house on May 27. Whew!

I've been meaning to start this blog for the past few months but with everything going on in our lives right now, it has constantly been put on the back burner. We hope to keep our friends and family updated on all of the in's and out's of our lives.